FRIDAY THOUGHTS

UTAH

It looks like Utah is falling back to earth, they're 4-6 in their last 10 and proving to be in a tier with the Lakers--and possibly San Antonio--below the true league heavyweights, Dallas and Phoenix.

Since their red hot 15-4 start, they've gone 10-10 over the last 20 to fall a half-game behind the Lakers for that all-important #4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. And this despite the Lakers missing their second best player in Lamar Odom for the last couple of weeks. They're still not getting anything on the offensive end from Andrei Kirilenko, and the shooting guard spot has been a revolving door with Matt Harpring, Ronnie Brewer and Gordon Giricek failing to impress.

Still, this team isn't going away, they have a great frontline with Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur (playing some of the best basketball of his career lately), and Deron Williams is here to stay as one of the best PGs in the league. In 8 January games, Williams is averaging a cool 18 ppg and 9.6 apg, against only 2.1 turnovers per.

I think they're a lot like the Lakers--a very good, very young team starting to come together, but still probably a year or two away. Keep in mind that Okur, at just 27, is the old man among their core players. Boozer, Kirilenko, and Williams are all 25 or younger. The future's bright in Utah, so you Salt Lake Citians can raise a glass of ice cold milk in celebration!

LAKERS

I've talked about the Lakers a lot lately, so I'll keep this brief. Great, *great* win against San Antonio on the road, with Kobe playing just a brilliant game on both ends. I knew they'd get killed the next night in Dallas, it was just a perfect storm of a road game against a tough team, the 2nd game in a back-to-back, coming off an emotionally draining win--and Dick Bavetta officiating. The line was Dallas -10, and I didn't touch it; but then when I saw Bavetta was officiating, I literally sprinted to my computer to get on sportsbook.com, but couldn't get the bet down on Dallas in time.

Sure enough, Bavetta was in rare form, making a bunch of calls so bizarre even the team benefiting clearly didn't understand what they were for. Oh, moving pick? Really? Cool! And the Lakers struggle rebounding against Dallas even at the best of times--with both Lamar Odom and Kwame Brown out, and Bavetta letting guys climb each other's backs like they were clamoring for the final seat on the last 'copter out of Saigon, Dallas' offense boiled down to: "throw up shitty shot, crash the boards, get layup". And it worked.

Oh well, I'm stil damned happy with the way the Lakers are playing without Odom. Like the Jazz, they're still a year or two away from serious contention, but I still like them to play the Jazz or Spurs pretty much evenly, and to give the Suns and Mavs at least a tough series if it should come about.

HOUSTON

If there weren't enough monster teams in the West, well, here comes Houston. Before a recent hiccup, Houston posted a nice little 9-1 run. They're now at 25-15, just behind the Lakers and Jazz in the West. And they've done it without Yao Ming, their best player and the best center in the league by far. They have lost two in a row, but that was on the road to Dallas and home against Phoenix with Tracy McGrady sitting out and a starting lineup of Rafer Alston-Luther Head-Shane Battier-Juwan Howard-Dikembe Mutumbo. It's a miracle they only lost by 9.

You gotta give it up for coach Jeff Van Gundy. I hate his style of play, but the proof is in the pudding--they're winning games (in a tough conference, on the road) with their best player out and the their next best player gimpy.

Reasons for their success:

1. They play great defense for 48 minutes a night--they're leading the league in ppg allowed at 90.5 and FG% allowed at .420. I questioned the Battier/Rudy Gay trade at the time, but it's now obvious I was wrong; Battier is the perfect guy to plug into that Van Gundy system. He's a dedicated and versatile defender, and can shoot the three (integral to what Houston's doing on offense, with T-Mac driving and kicking out to perimeter shooters).

2. Speaking of McGrady, he was going gangbusters until that damn back pain flared up again (buddy, I hear ya). Before sitting out the last game, McGrady was averaging a ridiculous 30/6/7.5 in 8 January games. Like Kobe, he's finally figuring out that his ability to create for his teammates is one of his most valuable assets. Both of them can get any shot they want at any time--but Brian Cook, Smush Parker, Shane Battier, and Luther Head can't. So they need someone to drive, break down the D, and get them the ball where they can make a shot. If Kobe/T-Mac don't do that, they're making these guys completely worthless; when they do, they make them a valuable addition to the team. I'm not saying they should turn into Steve Nash, they should both be looking to score 25-30 a night--a bad shot for these guys really is sometimes better than a good shot for someone else--but getting other people involved makes for a better team. For once the TWMASWs (typical white middle-aged sportswriters) are spot on.

3. And I have to give it up for old man Mutombo, who's partying like it's 1999 out there. This dude is *40*--at least! He might be 45 for all we know! And he's going up against the likes of Amare, Marcus Camby, Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol, and Jermaine O'Neal, all in the last couple of weeks. And all he's done in 9 January games is average 14 boards and 2 blocks in 32 minutes a night. That's astonishing. That's absolutely crazy. Kudos on the return, even if it's only a brief one, of Mount Mutombo. There's no way in hell this team would be doing what it's doing without him.

EASTERN CONFERENCE QUICKIES

1. Wow, the Cavs aren't impressive.

2. Wow, the Pistons suck without Chauncey Billups. If there was a doubt about whether they'd re-sign him or not, I think it's been answered. If they let Billups go, they might as well hold a fire sale for everyone but Prince, Maxiell, Delfino, Amir Johnson and start over from square one.

3. I'm happy Webber ended up with the Pistons, I think that's a good fit for him. I would've liked to have seen him on the Lakers, just for short term depth with Odom & Kwame out, but the Pistons need him more than LA does. He's a shell of his former self, obviously, but that might be enough to boost the already-solid Pistons over the rest of their crap-ass Eastern Conference competitors. Really, the conference is a total joke.

4. Watch out for Indiana. Sort of. I don't like the trade with Golden State because they added several millions of dollars to payroll and gave up the best player in the deal in Al Harrington, but a team with a frontcourt of Danny Granger-Troy Murphy-Jermaine O'Neal isn't half bad. They have almost no shooting (I'm aware Mike Dunleavy is now on the team; I stand by the opinion), and Jamal Tinsley has been pretty awful this year, but they still might have enough to compete in the East, especially since they have quite a bit of depth now--in addition to the guys mentioned above, they have Marquis Daniels and Jeff Foster, and made a couple of potentially nice pickups in the Warriors trade with Ike Diogu (who looks damn good every time I see him play) and the steady Keith McLeod. They're only just above .500 now, but they've played the highest percentage of games on the road of any team in the NBA other tha Philly.